Hello! First time posting here.
I am not her first human, so not sure how old she is, I suspect 4-5 years. I’m also not sure her breed- perhaps a variety of Wyandotte..?
I noticed that she wanted to hang out quietly in my house yesterday. It’s normal that they want to wander in the back door looking for something yummy, but she wanted to sit down & hang out- not normal. When I closed up the coop last night, I found her under the ramp, not up on the roost with the others- not normal.
First thing this morning, still under the ramp and not super alert. I talked to her & went to pick her up, not something I can usually do. She got up and walked slowly away from me, but she seemed to stumble. She made her way to the waterer & took a short drink. Didn’t seem to want to walk further. I easily picked her up. My first thought was egg bound, but I’m not super experienced with knowing these things- just speculating. What was new to me was how round, swollen and squishy the space under her vent was. She had some mess in her feathers. Not sure if it’s runny poo, broken egg, or yeast infection. Either way, I brought her in for a warm, epsom salt bath. She slept in the water for close to 30 mins. I cleaned her feathers & wrapped her up in towel to continue napping on my lap. I’ve been offering her water a/ probiotics, which she sometimes takes a small drink from. I’ve offered her fermented feed- no interest in it tho. I’ve also offered squished blue berries, but w/ no interest.
I checked her vent after a couple of hours wrapped in the towel, there appears to be a small amount of tan colored liquid/ paste in the vent, but a swear it looks like it’s moving- like bugs. I’ve Googled every combination of words I can think of, but nothing I’ve found looks like or describes what I’m seeing. It doesn’t look like I can upload the video, but there’s a pic.
At first, I was looking at egg bound, then water belly, then vent gleet, but now I’m thinking parasite or something.
I have six other hens and one rooster, but they are behaving normally, as far as I can tell.
I’ve been feeding fermented Layena, but I’m worried it’s not good any more. You know it for a that yeast layer on top- could that have become moldy?
I’ve been cleaning their coop out this week from the deep litter method, and it’s a dirt floor, so it can be dusty. The bedding has been wood shavings mixed with some hemp. They are not in the coop when I’m cleaning. We’re also surrounded by wildfire smoke the last week, so air quality is fluctuating quite a bit. The only treats I’ve been giving lately is a scratch mix I make with black oil sunflower, red millet, whole oats and dried black fly larvae. When I have melons, I’ll share, but I haven’t had those for a couple weeks.
I’m not sure what else to share. Any guidance is appreciated.
I am not her first human, so not sure how old she is, I suspect 4-5 years. I’m also not sure her breed- perhaps a variety of Wyandotte..?
I noticed that she wanted to hang out quietly in my house yesterday. It’s normal that they want to wander in the back door looking for something yummy, but she wanted to sit down & hang out- not normal. When I closed up the coop last night, I found her under the ramp, not up on the roost with the others- not normal.
First thing this morning, still under the ramp and not super alert. I talked to her & went to pick her up, not something I can usually do. She got up and walked slowly away from me, but she seemed to stumble. She made her way to the waterer & took a short drink. Didn’t seem to want to walk further. I easily picked her up. My first thought was egg bound, but I’m not super experienced with knowing these things- just speculating. What was new to me was how round, swollen and squishy the space under her vent was. She had some mess in her feathers. Not sure if it’s runny poo, broken egg, or yeast infection. Either way, I brought her in for a warm, epsom salt bath. She slept in the water for close to 30 mins. I cleaned her feathers & wrapped her up in towel to continue napping on my lap. I’ve been offering her water a/ probiotics, which she sometimes takes a small drink from. I’ve offered her fermented feed- no interest in it tho. I’ve also offered squished blue berries, but w/ no interest.
I checked her vent after a couple of hours wrapped in the towel, there appears to be a small amount of tan colored liquid/ paste in the vent, but a swear it looks like it’s moving- like bugs. I’ve Googled every combination of words I can think of, but nothing I’ve found looks like or describes what I’m seeing. It doesn’t look like I can upload the video, but there’s a pic.
At first, I was looking at egg bound, then water belly, then vent gleet, but now I’m thinking parasite or something.
I have six other hens and one rooster, but they are behaving normally, as far as I can tell.
I’ve been feeding fermented Layena, but I’m worried it’s not good any more. You know it for a that yeast layer on top- could that have become moldy?
I’ve been cleaning their coop out this week from the deep litter method, and it’s a dirt floor, so it can be dusty. The bedding has been wood shavings mixed with some hemp. They are not in the coop when I’m cleaning. We’re also surrounded by wildfire smoke the last week, so air quality is fluctuating quite a bit. The only treats I’ve been giving lately is a scratch mix I make with black oil sunflower, red millet, whole oats and dried black fly larvae. When I have melons, I’ll share, but I haven’t had those for a couple weeks.
I’m not sure what else to share. Any guidance is appreciated.
